#and i think thats what his character is about

[spidermanifested]

another black sails fantheory ive seen around a lot is that silver is jewish, usually specifically sephardic, but despite its prevalence i havent been able to find anybodys actual thesis statements about it. so if there are Essays out there (especially by somebody with more historical-slash-judaism knowledge than i with my meager wiki-crawls) i would love Links

however once again ive pondered a bunch of the stuff ive noticed personally, about mr john "if thats even your real name" silver. and honestly at this point id be kind of surprised if it Wasnt the actual context the writers shaped his character around. everything just seems to come together really neatly

hes impressively literate for his circumstances/time period, and really good at quickly memorizing large amounts of text. a solid religious education could very well explain this

specifically– and this is one of the things that feels like a huge bit of intentional subtext to me– the scene where hes hiding with the lepers and memorizing the urca schedule REALLY seems to evoke someone reading scripture under a prayer shawl

not only does he not know how to cook pork, but does not even seem to know what pork looks like when finished cooking

the pretext flint used to get his crew to hunt down the hamiltons' ship was that it was carrying sephardic riches. this is a completely throwaway detail we learn secondhand, in a story where there are very, very few completely throwaway details

silver speaks at least some spanish. this comes up Once and goes totally unquestioned by everyone around him, likely because they think he just picked it up as a sailor. he almost certainly has not been at sea long enough for this to be the case. speaking ladino as a first language on the other hand would give him a huge leg up (so to speak.) in that department

further point. around the time period of the show, the biggest sephardic community in the world lived in thessaloniki in modern-day greece. it was:

a) one of the most major seaports in the ottoman empire

b) a famous center for learning, which boasted 100% literacy of its jewish population

and c) despite its long and prosperous history under ottoman rule, beginning to decline along with the rest of the empire, for many interconnected reasons, including but not limited to: Problems With the Governments Handling of the Textile Industry (where have we heard that before)

lotta unrest. religious schisms and doomsday prophecies. reactionary groups of overempowered soldiers attacking civilians for stress relief (again. where have we heard that before). people, unsurprisingly, started leaving

so if you did want, against john silvers express wishes. to theorize a backstory for a surprisingly educated stowaway of Mystery Origin, who has Mystery Trauma and doesnt want anybody to know who he is or where he comes from, and which would give a new level of relevance to all the greek stuff that permeates the show (down to the actual name of the thing!), along with containing parallels to several other backstories and events in the show proper,

Well this one make sense i think 👍

[sunflower1experiment]

I believe that is what is scary about the fandom

I’ve seen Jimmy fans despise him and enjoy tormenting his character and also like him design wise.

Yet I’ve seen people hate them more than Jimmy, which is odd because you are both on the same team but I think they mix those fans up with some people who idolize him which is worrisome.

And then there’s the fact that some people tend to confuse the idea of relating to him, no one wants to relate to him because they look at it through a black and white perspective. Which I get, yet we gotta discuss beyond that and accept that sometimes folks act like Jimmy in terms of how they perceive others.

With Curly they truly believe he should’ve done all of this stuff but realistically, would they be able to confront a long time friend who verbally abuses/manipulates and then blames them for the actions they caused?

With Daisuke, some infantalized him and saw him as stupid and innocent, thats how Jimmy perceives him.

Then people see Anya at her worst instead of how Curly sees her.

I’m saying is Jimmy’s perspective gets skewed with our views and we accidentally pull a what Jimmy does towards the other crewmates. Or we pull a Jimmy and Curly where we hate on Curly specifically instead of just disliking all three and Pony Express.

Least that’s my perspective, I wanna discuss it more but it’s really difficult.

None of the stuff here justifies anything Jimmy and Curly did, just explains it.

really good piece on mouthwashing in the washington post today

[ra-vio]

this blog is 11 years old now 🎉

I drew the siblings ever to celebrate as usual

[transmasculinizing]

it frustrates me how some of the most iconic versions of batman are still by people who dont really care about the character and just like his aesthetic. snyder and nolan wanna empathize how cool and badass he is and thats fine but they try to make their movies way deeper than such surface level portrayals of batman should be. they like that hes dark and brooding but they dont go in depth on why hes like that. or they try to and fail. its not just about his parents dying its that he never healed from it. he didnt have the support system he needed to process his grief in a healthy way and was raised by an emotionally repressed ex military man who wouldnt let himself cross the line of employee and family. he learned not to show emotion outside anger. batmans stoicism isnt because hes badass, its a trauma response. the nolan movies treat batman not killing like its a moral superiority thing when thats not it at all. its what batman might occasionally tell himself it is but in reality its because if he starts he knows he wont be able to stop. he also has flaw of believing its like that for everyone but thats a whole other discussion. anyways not killing is in fact a mental block and its emotional because hes mentally ill. oh but we couldnt explore that because that would imply the guy were using for our toxic masculinity power fantasy is weak because he cant mentally handle something. its like.we want to hurt batman but we dont want him to feel anything about it other than maybe anger to show how tough and hypermasculine he is. this also correlates in why the live action batman movies dont want robin. they dont want batman to be a dad because thats not cool i guess. if you cant think of your batman comforting a crying child you didnt write batman though. i swear this obsession with not acknowledging that just because batman is bad at showing his emotions besides anger doesnt mean he doesnt have them has bled into the comics to. batman was literally a good dad to jason pre crisis but can you imagine nolans batman being a good dad? i cant personally. hes a man child. so now comics batman was shitty to jason when he was robin in order for batman to feel despair he needs to first feel love. his parents werent the only thing he loved. he loves his city, his friends, justice and doing whats right, his 2 major love interest and he absolutely loves his family im not saying all batman media needs to be a deep deconstruction of his psyche but if youre gonna focus on batman being 2 kool for emotions being badass rather than a result of his trauma dont pretend your movie is deeper than it actaually is

[natsmagi]

ok no i need to bitch because i have remained positive and hopeful throughout most of !!-era because i believed that happyele loved their characters and wouldnt deliberately go out of their way to butcher them but time and time again i have been proven wrong on this fact. and seeing the way theyre doubling down on having ibuki, a ryukyuan kid from okinawa, join a traditional "wa" japanese unit that embraces mainland japan traditions when the mainland has continuously tried to make okinawa theirs and disregard the ryukyuan identity WHILE ALSO LITERALLY HAVING EICHI COLONIZE OKINAWA IN ATLANTIS its all just becoming too much. I am no expert when it comes to these topics so do not take my word when it comes to jp culture, conflict and the likes, but knowing how poorly happyele has continuously time and time again treated their indigenous (or middle eastern in adonis's case) cast i cannot see this going well. Not to mention how having ibuki join akatsuki goes against everything the three of them have built up and the whole POINT of their unit and that for them to even fucking put this garbage in the story they had to make keito PAINFULLY ooc to pull it off because NO OTHER REALITY WOULD ALLOW IT!!!!! theyre taking akatsukis developments and throwing it out the window in an attempt to make them something "new" and more profitable while also using a beloved group that so many have spent so much of their time loving and supporting into nothing but a scapegoat for their imperialist propaganda im so unbelievably angry that theyre doubling down on this. im so angry that theyre stupid enough to let shit like this pass

and im sure youve probably read posts explaining the aktk thing better than i ever couldve, esp considering im not an aktkP, but im also writing this to tell the fans of big units to Stop Giving In. do not feel safe just because happyele is scared of losing you, because I used to be an undeadP before getting into switch and the reason i STOPPED producing them was because they viewed the unit as nothing but a money-maker machine and would completely disregard their developments for the sake of feeding into tropes that fans liked and they cared more about yaoibait than they did the characters themselves. They tossed out any growth rei and ritsu had in opperetta for the sake of bringing back sakuma brothers conflict in that painfully annoying la mort story and theyre gonna keep doing this shit until fans tire of it. valkyrie, eden and knights are three super popular units with upcoming events, and i seriously need you to not give happyele any of your time or money because they do not deserve it.

even with switch, a rather unpopular unit, theres been total garbage pulled. in switchs case i think its safe to say that akira does genuinely really care for natsume and tsumugis relationship considering thats basically all that man even includes in his switch stories, but he never really knows what to do with sora. And i feel like he doesnt really care. Like sure i can sit here and be like "well at least MY favs seem to be doing alright" but thats purely because they keep spoon-feeding us crumbs of the units popular ships so we wont complain. i still really like their dynamic and i strongly disagree with alot of fans saying natsume and tsumugi have been OOC lately, but like. Look at sora man. i dont mind him having a little gf in the virtual world, i dont mind him growing more independent, i dont mind him relying less on his synesthesia. but the executions are just. Theyre painful. with the synesthesia thing esp bc synesthesia doesnt just go away. You couldve easily made a simple point of "you cant always rely on your synesthesia to know how people feel" because that is TRUE! but that would de-fetishize this idea these people have of synesthesia being some Magical Ability and not just a neurological condition. And with the sora being more independent; this is also something thats been needed for his story! natsume and tsumugi would often coddle him way too much, and sora himself would complain about being treated as a kid. But like. sora has started to feel so disconnected from switch in a way.....? and this has even been a point of conflict in stories, sora not knowing how to partake in ntmgs conversations because theyre too difficult, or being sad that ntmg never have time to hang out with him. But instead of working on these things, they just. keep having sora hang out with people outside of natsume and tsumugi? who have practically become a package deal at this point?? literally having sora join a NEW UNIT without natsume or tsumugi????????? i dont know. im rambling but i just wanted to get this out there. Theyre my specialest guys in the whole entire world and i just want to make people more cautious of thinking "well the aktk thing wouldnt happen to MY fav unit! they wouldnt butcher MY favs!" because they very much can. even if theres an aspect youre still hooked on, other factors are visibly crumbling because management cares only about what will bring the most revenue, and not what is best for the character

i cant help but feel the reason theyre pulling this shit with akatsuki is because they felt as though they somewhat got away with it with Double Face and raked in some extra cash because kohaku ended up popular, so now theyre doing that again but taking it to the next extreme. its disheartening

anyway. i will continue to draw and enjoy ensemble stars. But i wont be supporting them financially anymore as they clearly do not care about fans at all. if i desperately want some merch ill just buy it second-hand. And while im at it, i need you people to stop telling enstarries to get into some other idol franchise instead as if the main problem here isnt how disgustingly predatory they are. Happy Elements were THE biggest joseimuke franchise, making the most money out of all their competitors, and it still wasnt enough. they still didnt respect their fans. when the fans would continuously respect their wishes. Enstars is like the only fandom ive seen that doesnt share leaks for example, yet this courtesy means nothing to them. Corporations arent your friends, never have been and never will be. those characters arent real, they do not have feelings of their own. They were all written by someone to serve a purpose, and this includes ibuki being an indigenous kid joining the wa japanese culture unit. To use this popularity to spread so much fucking bigotry and hatred is heartbreaking. And to blame the fans for being upset over it????????????? youre disgusting happyele.

[hotvintagepoll]

Dwight Frye (Dracula, Frankenstein)—he's my babygirl please please please please please i want to baby bird feed him flies and spiders and pick him up and make glitter edits of him and give him gross forehead kisses like he's my cat. in dracula he was so incredibly creepy that he was typecast as madmen for the rest of his life and he fucking hated it but by god if he didn't do a fantastic job. he steals the show every time he's up on screen just because he's so fucking deranged. i need him

Thelma Ritter (Rear Window, All About Eve)—So little! Barely 5 feet tall! So scrungly! Working class accent and regular person looks constantly surrounded by gorgeous people! Snarky as hell!

This is round 3 of the contest. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. If you’re confused on what a scrungle is, or any of the rules of the contest, click here.

[additional submitted propaganda + scrungly videos under the cut]

Dwight:

He absolutely owns the entirety of Dracula (1931). Compared to the novel, his part is massively expanded and it's clear why. He's magnetically unhinged and his facial expressions are pure scrungle. And in Frankenstein, he begins the archetype of Frankenstein's assistant even if the character's name there is Fritz. He'd still go on to play other scrungly guys in later Frankenstein movies. But he's kinda the archetypal and progenitor of the scrungly lil guy. The scrungliest guy ever to scrungle. He's pretty much the blueprint for every mad scientist's assistant, and he's the best part of every movie he's in. He manages to make you feel sorry for the creepy little dudes, even when he's eating spiders and crawling across the floor. [editor's note: content warning for the "hunchback" stereotype and "madness" in the clips below]the "Rats" soliloquy:

I saw him in Dracula and frankly he has me bewitched. I could watch him do his silly routine forever. The gay tension with Bela Lugosi onscreen was frankly unparalleled. Kirk and Spock levels. I am chewing on the furniture

Played the weirdo little guy in Dracula AND the weirdo little guy in Frankenstein in the same year. Iconic.

The scrungles to end all scrungles! There's a reason why this man codified the manic vampire's familiar and the hunchbacked lab assistant for generations, because by God can this man be feral and scrungly: Whether he's soliloquizing about rats as Renfield, scurrying around Frankenstein's lab like a spider as Fritz, or skulking around dark alleys (and scaring the hell out of little baby me) waiting for a fresh heart to steal as Karl, if you want a scrungly little man for your classic film, Dwight Frye is your man. He has the range to play varying kinds of scrungle, with his wide eyes, his manic smiles, his soft, breathy voice, he is truly an undisputed scrungle master.

I honestly think it would be a crime to ignore Dwight Frye's scrungle factor. He played two of the prototypical creepy little henchman as Dracula's lackey Renfield and Dr. Frankenstein's hunchback servant Fritz, and I believe that his excellence in these roles absolutely shaped the future character tropes of the "Igor" type as much as Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff shaped the future understanding of Dracula and Frankenstein's monster. He's got it all from the looks, to the manic energy, to the crazed laugh, I'm telling you right now that I think he could win the entire tournament.

Thelma:

she wants to kill santa claus so bad for the first half of this clip. "thats fine. thats just dandy. mama wants to..thank santa claus too."

[wassupmygays]

im always thinking about sodapop "he feels everything so much" curtis

listening to jason schmidt talk about how soda feels is just. so perfect to me.

"i used to tell ponyboy about sandy in la jolla, but the lines got cut on broadway and i think that makes so much sense, because i dont think he *knows* how to talk about it. if he tries to talk about, he just loses it, so he has to try and deflect and move on to something else to talk about"

thats a bit paraphrased from this interview and i just think about it all the time. and you can see that character work on jason's face in that scene. when pony asks about sandy, you see soda's face drop. and you see him process and think about what hes gonna say next. you see him decide that its not worth it to try and talk about right now, its not worth it to start crying over something thats already done and gone. its not worth it to start bawling in front of his brother that he needs to stay strong for. so, he just tells ponyboy that he's tired, because he is, and he tries to go to bed so he doesnt have to think about it anymore.

and then the same thing happens when they talk about their parents. the train whistle sounds and each brother reacts to it like it sends ice through their bodies. soda tucks his head into his pillow, like hes trying to hide away. he listens to pony talk about his dream, he listens to pony try and process his own emotions about this. part of me wonders if soda wishes he could talk about it like pony does. he watches him sooo sadly. and then when pony asks about his own dreams, soda opts to make a little joke, to lighten the mood. to divert the atmosphere away from all the despair they've been feeling. because, again, if he really truly talked about any dreams of his parents he might have? he'd cry for days. the emotions would come out of him like a wave he couldnt ever stop

and (in the boot's ive seen) jason plays this so well. its such subtle character work but it adds so much to everything he does as soda.

[cconfusedkat]

I think the reason why I have a tendency to draw new things every few months is bc im Still relatively new to digital art and always wonder how much i improve in months

So mainly it's for my sake because im like Oh wait ive been drawing this character differently recently ?? And then Boom i take my eyes away for one second and theres redesigns

Plus instead of making clothing so complex i decided to go w my heart and base their clothes off of how id characterize them If That Makes Sense ,, i figure kallamars is the most obvious one for him being a tailor for example

Whereas shamura is the (main) undertaker , Leshy and Heket are the two missionary party leaders , and Narinders isnt very obvious but hes considered the gladiator :-3c

Lamb and Goat (Allure & Giuseppe) are the two leaders of the cult!! (Allure main leader, giuseppe co leader) As time went on and giuseppe settled in allure's cult , the name changed from just alluring lamb to the cult of death and wisdom ,,, Ram (aaliyah) isnt a very repetitive person that shows up at the cult since she has her own cult to run (within another universe , a war cult specifically) but she likes to show up every so often just to check in with her brother [giuseppe] :>c

And ofc how could i forget wilt lol- i forgot to add giuseppes cape here Woops ,, But its what giuseppes main clothes r in the other cult

And well i kinda wanted to incorporate the healed designs ,, another thing i wanted to add is that i constantly yap about them all being rlly strong (minus Narinder however- i believe he wouldn't be able to go on crusades or missionaries due to fibromyalgia) but its not too obvious either ,, id def say that leshy and allure are probably the strongest out of everyone else (leshy can summon roots from the ground and uses his body as an advantage, where as to allure their main weapon is withholding a heavy axe ,, but that shit is Not Easy so both leshy and allure are bottom heavy cuz of that- their back muscles and legs carry shit for the both of them HELPP)

Shamura isnt exactly a battlefield person though, they're probably the only bishop to not wanting to fight ?? Those days r Way behind them ,, Kallamar can make himself taller due to Allure reserving some strength left of the blue crown as apart of a compromise they were forced to make with kallamar to stay within the cult-

One thing in common Giuseppe and Narinder have is pacifism ,, narinder is a pacifist because of seeing allure so ill and he didnt actually like seeing people in pain- whereas Giuseppe is pacifist because hes a god of wisdom nd prefers to take things with a lighter approach. The complete opposites of those two are Allure and Aaliyah, theyre both aiming for any type of genocidal route because of what they went through for both the lamb and goat genocides occuring in different worlds of theirs ,, giuseppe doesnt rlly like crusading with allure for that reason 😭 even though aaliyah is Much worse since shes a god of war- its just the way that bloodthirst makes giuseppe incredibly uncomfortable,, to see such a shy lamb act the opposite on their crusades is Lowkey what terrifies him lmao-

Herrmm ,, heket and kallamar are pretty similiar in the stances of not rlly gaf-ing about fighting and crusades ,, heket is good at stealth and kallamar just aims right for the target because shi's just Impatient-

Okay thats all the yapping i have left in me fur now i also have these to share

The only decency here is giuseppe lmaooo 😭🙏

Oh one last thing is heights :-3

(Shamura is 4'7, Ram is 5'1, Lamb is 5'5, Narinder is 6'0, Goat is 6'1, Kallamar is 6'3, Heket is 6'6, and Leshy is 7'2 ,, Idk why i put sozo there but maybe bc its fur my own reference)

[colorful-horses]

Well, I didn't like Sinsmas

New Helluva Boss episode came out and it's like a switch has been flipped in my brain. Because it is incredibly good

[jinxsmascara]

"Why do you like Silco from arcane SOOOOO much ?"

Well... number one: father figure of a character i KIN

Number two: his back story is the perfect exemple of ascending into...pure rage and unforgiveness like:

WARNING ARCANE S2 SPOILER !:

He was just a guy who worked with his brother in the mines and both were friends with Vi and Powder/Jinx mother (Felicia) ... yes he was a revolutionary , yes he was like "im too punk and edgy and cool for caring about the future ! Lets make Zaun !" Which was understandable i mean you live in a poor shitty undercity and you are looked down by the Pilities who never have to worry while you are in the slums worried if you will even have a tomorrow (lack of food n water / contaminated food n water , live in the streets for the most unlucky ones etc etc) and the Topside wont hear you , if course you go "FUCK IT LETS RIOT !" ... as we all know Silco fought on the bridge with Vander and Felicia (well maybe she didnt wanna fight because she had Vi and Powder/Jinx so maybe she was with them because she had to run from enforcers ?) ... and Felicia died (we dont know if Silco accidentally killed her wanting to punch an enforcer but in his "high" of "OH MY GOD IM PUNCHING EVERYONE !" or she was already dead (i think its the second option because we can see his face drop as he sees Felicia lifeless like "...no no no hey no this isnt supposed to happen !") ..) , Vander saw Silco at the wrong moment wrong time , and decided to just attack him...

Now just imagine that: you are fighting for your life and your people's lives , and you see your bestfriend dead , and you try to process that shit all while you have raging enforcers running at you wanting to arrest/kill you , and on top of that you have no time to explain or you simply cant explain to your brother why and how y'all best friend died ... and this brother of yours decides to attack you and kill you in the worse ways (drowning + gauging your left eye out) ... all you can think about is "i lost everyone... he hates me ! They all hate me! i hate them all ! Betrayers !" , you dont have time to think "its a misunderstanding ... its gonna be okay" ...

Of course i aint condoneing everything , im just stating the facts like...of course he would turn out this way after that crap ! The opposite woulda surprised me !

Also despite his "im a fucking menace" act... you can see when Vander attacks him again in S1 A3 , his first reaction is to FREEZE and have flashbacks of him being drowned again... THAT GUY STILL GETS MF PTSD LIKE DUDE GO TO THERAPY AND CALM YOUR TITS ! (He has to shake himself off like "WAKE UP HE IS GONNA KILL YOU !" to react)

(No i wont mention how...lame the excuse letter was , i mean , I know vander is shit at this (thats what he says in the letter too bwaha) but...he could have maybe asked for Benzo or someone else to help him write the letter for Silco ? Like instead of just "yeah uhm im sorry uhm...find me at the bar eh ?" (Which would have infuriated Silco even more imo , like imagine you get disfigurated and almost killed and the person who did that gives you a poor piece of paper ? He would have gone like "OH YEAH IM COMING TO THE MF LAST DROP AND IM GONNA KICK HIS DAMN ASS !" instead of "...mehhh fine okay") like an actual "lets have a talk...like two adults" one-)

Thankyou for assisting an episode of: Jinx takes a globally insignificant thing too much at heart !

- Jinx out

[blanceyblance]

A study on Lance's underrated role on the team.

Or, "Yes, there was a Space Mom"

Some time ago, I made a post saying that, the closest thing to a "Space Mom" the paladins ever had was actually Lance and I wanted to make a post elaborating more on why I thought so.

Now this is not me saying that we have to put this Team in neat nuclear family boxes, even Shiro, the one who the fandom collectively agrees to call "Space Dad" doesnt fit perfectly the Team Dad trope, but what I mean is that, this role is one that most of the time it appears naturally in any group of friends/people.

So, lets start with seeing how TVTropes describes what is a Team Mom:

"In an ensemble show, especially of the fighting kind, there needs to be someone to hold this Ragtag Bunch of Misfits together before they kill each other or wander off into the woods like so many Player Characters."

"The Team Mom basically acts as the mother figure for everyone else in the group, regardless of age or family relations."

"Although the role itself is traditionally female, the overprotective dad or older brother can qualify for Team Mom"

"They are by definition never the loner, and will in fact tend to be the one who pulls them into the cast's orbit as a Sixth Ranger. If anyone can break through and bring about a Heel–Face Turn or Cooldown Hug, it's them"

"if any of their surrogate children or siblings are threatened, they can snap into angry Mama Bear mode and kick some ass"

Basically, this role is less about gender and age and more about how the character threats the rest of their peers.

It is hard to imagine resident flirty goofball Lance as fitting in a role like this since, usually, characters that are referred to as the "Team Mom", seem a bit more responsible and mature.

And, admittedly, it is a role that he has to grow into a bit, but even in the first episode he already had some shades of this:

Covering for Pidge and taking the brunt of Iverson's anger, running to aid someone who had fallen from one of the pods (before knowing it was a pretty girl) and protecting Coran from a explosion.

Overall through the show, Lance actually ends up being very caring and protective towards his teammates.

I was unsure on how I wanted to do this analysis since, there is actually quite a lot I want to talk about, so I decided to highlight how Lance acts with every member of the team from this angle.

Keith

The Lion Switch and Keith stepping to pilot Black is what, for a lot of fans, kickstarts Lance's arc of becoming a more mature individual and team player.

But even as early as s1, we do have moments of Lance keeping Keith grounded, like when he stops him from being reckless and hurting the balmera.

In season 3, when Keith is dealing with the loss of Shiro, everyone present decides to turn to Lance to handle it, Lance doesnt even notice what they are doing and instead goes to talk to Keith.

It is interesting that, even Coran and Allura (the adult and the diplomat) also look at him to handle the situation. And it's not a case of just looking at the next person in line, since Pidge is very clearly looking in his direction.

They eventually join to talk to Keith too but not before Lance makes the first approach.

And even when it was clear he really wanted to be chosen, Lance still quickly went to support Black's choice and thus, Keith's new position.

Like Allura tells us later, this is what makes Red, the literal right hand lion to call for Lance.

"You value a strong team"

Because thats what makes Lance really shine. His utter love and care for his team.

Even when he was clearly disappointed about not being chosen he decides to forget his own hurt to instead show to his unsure teammate.

And support he did.

After Keith goes to follow Lotor and makes the team enter a difficult situation while Allura is struggling with Blue, it's Lance the one who manages to make him stop and return.

Keith returns with Lance and shows he is regretful of his actions, one would think that Lance would take this chance to scold his "rival" but instead, he just acknowledges that Keith did mess up but now they are going to fix it. Showing Keith he is not alone in this.

After this incident Lance keeps being very vocally supportive of Keith (when he agrees with his orders).

And will usually follow his orders to a T. For example in "The Journey Within" Keith made a system for the team to sound off every certain period of time, and when Keith stops seeing a point to it, Lance keeps going and the team follows his lead.

It is also interesting to mention, these moments of Lance speaking softly to Keith when he is freaking out.

Another example would be when they get captured and Keith calls the name of his teammates, Lance being the first name he calls and the first to answer.

This ended up being quite long and the 10 pic limit doesnt help either so I will be splitting this in parts.

Keith and Allura's section is, unsurprisingly, quite long but I managed to gather a little evidence to talk about Lance's relationship with all the team.

Hope you guys enjoyed this first part

[Part 1] [Part 2]

[eilissxx]

saw this as a mlvn being endgame proof cause lucas has max, max has lucas and mike has eleven on their cards AND im going to analyse it cause these pictures are throwback to s3 (mike wheelers worst period of internalized homophobia) so i could prove these delusionals wrong

the first thing i noticed - max and lucas have hearts on their partner’s name, mike doesn’t. around “11” there are these straight lines (?) which ones we also can see around “paladin”. thats so romantic huh?

but let’s think abt it. “paladin” is what describes mike the most, like he’s the leader of the party and paladin is also his dnd character, so it makes sense that it’s highlighted. but what about 11? does that mean… “11” describes mike too?

like seriously? all u can say abt this man is that he has a girlfriend? meanwhile lucas and max have drawings of the things they like and which gave them personality, mike has his girlfriend name???? it’s a bad writing, not a romantic thing

BUT i went even further

how i said, max has lucas’s name, lucas has max’s name, and mike has his girlfriend name too… wait thats not even her name, thats a fucking number

“it because her name is eleven!!!!” they could write “eleven” “el”. they didn’t. u know why?

because mike adores “11” and not “el” (i do NOT disrespect his feelings for her btw). he likes 11 who saved him and the town, who can move thing with her mind (and who saved will🫢) - he likes the superhero. he likes “11”

it confirms by the spacecraft (sry idk what it is) drawing. the toy that el was forcing to fly. they could choose any other one thing which connect him and el, but it’s the one relating with el’s superpowers.

in conclusion in one picture we can see how mike focuses on his girlfriend and forget about himself, forget abt the things that make him mike wheeler. thats the idea of s3 and mlvns relationship. mike is “the supergirls boyfriend” now. and he still choose it over accepting himself as a queer

[anidala-for-ever]

#the complete inability to engage with a character the moment the character is a bit too conplex beyond 'absolutely good' or 'very bad'...

#understand why people wouldn't like anakin i mean look at all what he did!

#but then you realize he's being hated for the wrong reasons ans being treated as if he was The Antichrist from day 1

#as if he was completely fully sane by the moment things took a badly turn in ROTS

#the window between 'he made his choices' and 'the circunstances were pushimg him to the edge' are very narrow here

#rots is the dramatically and horrible combination of years and years of systematic abuse and grooming and maladaptative trauma exploding

#sorry that explosion isn't pretty or tasteful or less terrible but it wasn't supposed to be it is supposed to be ugly and upsetting!

#from every angle! it hurts from his POV it hurts from Padme's it hurts from Obi's it hurts from every angle you can get but Palpatine's

#no one is asking you to forgive him or excuse his crimes no one is doing that! But the prequels sre meant to tell the story of why

#Why he fell? Well thats your answer and is not pretty but by god it does make sense doesn't it? but no you all just wanted a slasher villai

#humanizing someone that commited crimes shouldn't be that hard especially bc we're talking about a Spacial Wizard Monk guys he's fictional

#the way fans IGNORE completely Palpatine's part and Anakin's constant misery in life just to act like he's just Space Fascist Guy is just..

#idk astounding because how can you look at TPM and not think 'that poor kid'

#or watching AOTC and only getting from it that he's a brat or something

#also let me say it again He's Fictional even if storywise he didn't like yknow get stripped off basic human rights and tortured and burned

#and disabled and forced onto a medical horror (because narratively that was his punishment which is another can of worms)

#he wouldn't have to be held accountable in the way some talk about him like...he's fictional

#ppl 'ld be up applauding other villains that do the same or worst with less of a reason and but it suddenly isnt the case with anakin

These tags are amazing, so I'm reblogging them

i hesitate to use the term victim blaming in relation to anakin because at the end of the day he's a fake guy whose crimes range from domestic violence to genocide but people's obsession with holding him "accountable" (let me reiterate, fake guy) and emphasizing how much choice he had starts feeling like that! cuz yeah ultimately his actions are his own, the narrative tells you this as much as very annoying fans who love stating the obvious do, but it feels rather insane to me to act like he was making choices under normal circumstances. like, at the end of the day he was being groomed and later on horrifically abused by palpatine and it feels like a lot of people really want to pretend that it’s his fault for not catching onto it as a traumatized child. he didn’t randomly switch loyalties bc he was hungry for power or whatever, his entire sense of reality was very meticulously broken down by a man who has been preying on his vulnerabilities since he was a child! and i just think people should maybe think about that before making arguments that sound dangerously close to “well why didn’t he just leave his abuser”

[harukyuu2]

Hello, a request please, the boys of Furin x childhood friend reader, how do the boys react when they meet their childhood friend again (the reader moved away when she was little) and their biggest crush reciprocated?

Awww hello!! Thats such a cute request! I tried my best writing some characters that i thought were gonna look cute, so there you go <3

!! Now that i ended writing it, i noticed that i got a little focused on the past..i hope you still like it tho!! i can make a part two extending the idea more <3

♡ Characters: Haruka Sakura, Nirei Akihiko, Hajime Umemiya, Tasuku Tsubakino

- Fluff, pretty angsty on the past sorry !! (Mentions of bullying for Nirei), readers acts slightly different for each of them, neutral reader but for Tsubakino there are mentions of "femenine" things, they/them pronouns for Tsubakino

♤ To be honest, Haruka isnt sure if he can consider you as someone who was his friend. Haruka had a harsh past where people bullied him by his looks, even as a kid no one wanted him around-- except you.

Haruka used to spend his days on the park, there where games, trees that he could punch like those man on the street between them and bugs. He could tell even since a young age that parents looked at him with sadness or disgust, including yours but you still didnt seem to care.

A small child approached Haruka with a little sunflower on her hand, probably stealed from the garden of the park. - "This flower matches your eye" - the small child stated and smiled shyly offering the sunflower to Haruka.

Ah, this is a memory he hates—the time he stomped on that flower, thinking it was some kind of disgusting joke, only to make the small child cry and your parents scream at Haruka. Yet, you didn’t stop trying to approach him. Every day, you took that same route after school, or maybe you’d pass by when you went shopping with your parents—it didn’t matter. Every time you walked by, Haruka was there. It was almost like the universe wanted the two of you to be close.

Slowly, Haruka started to get used to your presence, even if he still kept some of his guard up, just in case you ever treated him like a monster. But you never did. Day by day, as you kept collecting sunflowers, it eventually led to the moment where you learned how to make a sunflower crown, placing it carefully on Haruka's head with a stupidly big grin thinking it highlighted one of his eyes!

Time flew by when you were together. It got to the point where Haruka forgot he ever hated you—he even started waiting for you at the park every day, usually to play the silly games you thinked about. Even when he frowned or got annoyed, you always showed up, bringing an inexplicable warmth to his heart.

But then... you stopped coming. A week passed, then a month, then a year. Haruka eventually gave up, assuming you had left him—just like everyone else always did. And yet, no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t bring himself to hate you. You were the first person to show him what affection truly felt like.

You still held a hidden place in his heart and mind, and as time passed, he couldn’t help but wonder what you’d look like when you were older.

...

The small bell in the door of Cafe Pothos ringed giving the announcement of a new client. Haruka was too focused on chewing his second omurice of the day while Kotoha welcomed the customer. He noticed the sudden weird silence, but who cares.

"Haruka...?" - someone asked, their voice barely above a whisper, that it almost seem like it was breaking in confusement. He almost choked upon hearing someone say his name like that. And then, with wide eyes and a faint blush creeping onto his face, he froze, staring at the person standing before him—a beautiful sight he had left behind in the past long ago.

And here he is, with his usual frown looking at the opposite direction while the first person to approach him in the past is sitting at his side pretty close. Asking annoying questions, with the annoying teasing look of Kotoha and the annoying lack of space between them.

"Why did you moved here? I didnt expect to find you again! Im so happy..." -Your tone went lower on the last part but there was a clear pleased smile in your face

"To be on Furin, on the top better said." -He responded quick and bluntly, dont be confused! He is just really nervous to see you again, who would know you just got prettier than you already were on his eyes? the fact youre so close doesnt help either.

"Furin? Be on top?" - You ask curious raising an eyebrow since you just got here so... Well, anyways! if Haruka says it, its probably something interesting.

"A school for deliquents, wanna be on top." - He responds and looks at you for a moment, looking in your eyes for any negative emotions towards him

"Oh..." - You hummed, surprised by the thought, but in the end if Haruka wants that goal, youre gonna support him. Giving him a sweet smile that made him quickly look away again. Seeing his reaction, you placed a hand on his shoulder, feeling how he straightened up nervously, his whole body tense.

"Well, why dont we take a walk together? Its been years since I moved away because of my parents work, and running into you in this town is kinda crazy! I really want to know how you’ve been. You know... You were such a cutie back then, and— Haruka, are you okay!?" - you asked, alarmed as you noticed him frozen in place, his face completely red and looking like he was about to steam from the heat.

Whoops! Even if Haruka stopped working, atleast a part of his heart is warm knowing you didnt leave that shitty city because of him. At the end, you two had a nice walk talking about how your lifes are going, Haruka gived you back a flower of a park as a form of remembering when you gived him those sunflowers (He panicked for ten minutes before almost breaking the flower and giving it to you all flustered and pouty) and walking you home since he was worried for your safety. After all this time, you gived him a small hug to thank him but he runned away before you could say anything else. No worries! you will give him more affection the days you encounter him.

♤ Nirei admired you so much, to the point you were the first person he writted about in his small journal of strong people. Yeah, maybe you werent strong physically! But you were...someone he admired.

This warm feeling about you came from a while ago when you two become friends even if he was a person who has been bullied since childhood, you were one of the few things he didnt hate of the school you two went.

In his middle school years, he had their only friend since childhood worried almost everyday, just as the usual beaten ended, you always appeared to heal his wounds with a frustated expression since you couldnt do anything about it. He always noticed that, and his crybayby tears didnt help at all to comfort you, he just wished to be stronger more for you than himself. He was worried that those guys decided to do something to you, after all you werent scared of showing that you were pretty close to Nirei.

His fear camed to reality pretty early. One of those days where he was being beaten up, it got more heated by the group of his bullies throwing him against the wall in the back of the school and starting to punch him restless for not having the notes they asked for in time. A big kick was about to come when the bully suddenly stopped seeing a girl in front of him

"Stop it please, its not good to go punching people. If you wanted notes..." - She was trying to defend him, he could see from the back how her arms that protected him from their view shaked and more when the bully gived her a slap. Nirei could only look her back, afraid of them hurting her more but not being able to help because of the fear, he is thankful a teacher saw them and stopped this inmediately.

But that bringed your overprotective parents to know about the situation, just as Nirei saw you as something precious, for your parents was the same thing. Taking the decision to move out because of their work and to change you into another school before the situation brings more hurtness to you.

Even then, with a smile you gived him a phrase that still sounds strongly in his heart- "Until we meet again Nirei!"

...

It was a normal day after Nirei managed to learn some defensive moves for the upcoming fights thanks to Suo. Those two were coming back from one of their sessions of practice, but couldnt help to hear a yelp from one of the abandoned valleys that is a little far from the center of Makochi. They quickly runned there finding someone Nirei knows pretty well being pushed against a wall and two boys asking you to give everything in your bag to them. Nirei, shocked to see you again runned screaming your name without thinking of the fear or anything, making not only you to be surprised but Suo too.

"Nirei!?" - you screamed, your eyes wide in shock as you saw him all grown up, completely forgetting about your situation. Did he dye his hair? you thought. It looks good on him! A smile spread across your face, but it quickly faltered, your heart skipping a beat as Nirei narrowly avoided a punch. Wait—did he just make that guy roll when he dropped to the floor? You couldn’t help but let out a small laugh on how he looked like a little bug, which only seemed to irritate the guy who had been cornering you against the wall. He tightened his grip on your wrist, but before anyone else could react, Nirei lunged at him, tackling him to the ground even if it meant recieving some punches of that guy on his back.

You let out a small gasp of surprise, but before the chaos could escalate, another guy with an eye patch stepped in, delivering a final punch that knocked the two aggressors out cold. Letting out a sigh of relief and giving a thankful smile to the eyepatched guy, you walked slowly toward Nirei, who was still on the floor catching his breath—he looked exhausted.

"Nirei..." - You called him again bringing yourself down to him with a calm smile. You heard his small sobs before he looked at you and started to mumble incoherent stuff, but you bringed yourself to understand he missed you a lot. Your smile widened slightly so you decided to caress his hair to calm him a little - "Yeah, missed you too silly. You been training, right? i can tell, you look like a...hero! You just saved me right now, that was awesome!" - You said knowing how obsessed Nirei was with being one before finally hugging him softly, you heared his small yelp but still how shakily he reciprocated the hug, feeling a warm on his heart of having you back with him.- "Lets go to eat something 'kay? i missed you!" - You said finally getting up with him and following him close, oops! you two forgot Suo was there too.

Umemiya always thought of you two on the past as that phrase people use of "Right person, wrong time".

When he got to the orphanage, he wasnt the most easy kid to take care of. He was really sad and deep into believing it was his fault what happened to his parents, wanting to push everyone away and believing he didnt deserve to still be here. But still, you always showed up, trying to spend time with him. You didn’t like seeing him alone, so even when he tried to push you away, you kept following him, curious about what he was up to. You were always there, making sure he ate his food and explaining what the flavors were supposed to taste like, trying to get him to play games and see if he felt anything. You tried everything for him.

One of his favourites memories is when you smiled really big after he finally started to get his happiness again and felt the taste of food after a lot of time. He started to love spending time with you, he even learned to braid hair with you! but still something felt different than with the other kids, he couldnt bring himself to think of you as a sister...he thinked of you as something more special.

So you can imagine his surprise when a family about to move out of town decided to adopt you. He was happy for you—of course, he was—but he couldn’t ignore the ache in his heart at the thought of you being far away.

During those last days by your side, he always smiled, trying to show you that he was handling it well, even if you could clearly see the sadness in his eyes. That’s why, on your last day there, the other kids at the orphanage gave you goodbye drawings, but you decided to secretly slip one into Umemiya’s hands and hug him tightly.

"Lets have a meal together when i come back 'kay?" - You smiled at him and Umemiya returned the hug, nodding at your words and hoping that the future reunites them again.

...

It was a normal day of helping around on the town for Umemiya until the sweet old lady of a bakery grabbed his arm to stop him from walking away.

"Aw sweetie, wouldnt you mind tasting the new parfait i want to put on the menu of the bakery? you can sit down and tell me your opinion while someone comes to help you with all those bags people gived you!" - The old lady seemed pretty eager to convice him and in the end, she managed to do it.

"Ask for the parfait there on the counter while i fix the shop! it has to look cute, Ume" - The old lady adds when they enter the bakery with a small laugh, but Umemiya didnt expect to see you on the counter. Just as shocked as he was, you opened your mouth to talk-- it trembled a little in hesitation before it leaved on a shaky whisper - "Ume...?"

And here you two are, after Umemiya jumped over the counter to hug you and taking you out of the bakery, now wandering through the city as he animatedly tells you stories about what he’s been up to with Furin and the town. You listened, amused by all his achievements, nodding along as he spoke. He looked so cute, talking so excitedly about everything he had accomplished, that you didnt even realize he had led you to the rooftop of the school he loved so much.

He eagerly presented you to his plants like if they were his babies, excitedly explaining to you that he is waiting for the tomatos to mature for the next barbecue. He standed up slowly going closer to you

"I hope you come to the barbecue, it would be nice seeing you there. Oh! you can also come around this week to know my friends! Ah, i want you to meet the boys of first year too, they are..." - He hears your small laugh from hearing his ramble since quite the few minutes, making him stop for a moment and admire your face with a small smile starting to form. He leaves a small laugh and rubs his neck - "im talking pretty much, arent i?"

"Yeah, but dont worry i dont mind. Its been a while since i have a talk with you" - You shake your head fixing a strand of hair out of your face, the sunset falling behind you two. - "Im happy you seem... more alive than the last time we saw each other"

There was a moment of comforting silence while you saw each other, taking in the fact that you two finally are together again. Umemiya gently passed one of his arms around your neck, pushing you against his chest and whispering softly - "Missed you..".- you inmediately passed your arms around him too, the moment lasting forever for you two.

Tsubakino always admired you, even in your childhood years, Tsubakino always admired how your hair was long and well taken care of.

But for the most part, they loved sneaking away from those boring car talks with the boys by running to find you in the courtyard. They’d excuse themself by saying they were curious about your makeup dreams for when you got older, claiming they were just bored. (They couldnt bring themself to admit that they really wanted to try that pink lipstick with glitter of yours.)

The time they spent with you always felt just right. You never seemed to mind them talking your ear off about things typically considered "feminine," and that meant the world to them. It helped them so much that, even today, Tsubakino is grateful to you for introducing them to those things.

Still, Tsubakino saw you go before they could tell you openly all the things they loved about your makeup, your hair, how you styled the uniform even if the teachers scolded you, Tsubakino loved all your style. But they couldnt bring themself to say that before you had to leave the town with your family, you gived something precious to Tsubakino that they promised to take well care of. Your red lipstick that they were always peeking how you used it

"Take care of this while im gone! i know you like it in secret" - You said between giggles with a wink putting the lipstick on Tsubakino's palm and gently closing it. - "If you ever want, you can use it just...dont lose it 'kay?" - You ask with a gentle smile before running away since your parents were calling you, Tsubakino just nodded in awe pressing the lipstick against their chest, hoping for the future to reunite you two again

...

Tsubakino was doing some shoppings with Kotoha, mostly based of seeing clothes but they were also trying to get a new limited color palette that was on sale in a huge store! and yet even if they runned there early, the line was packed up of people. Tsubakino saw Kotoha sigh but tried to cheer her up that they would probably get it if they are lucky, and also it wont be that bad of a wait if they are together.

Almost all conversations on the line were interrupted by a boy who pushed a person back and didnt even apologized for taking their place without a warning.

"Hey! You cant just cut in line! I was here first!" - The voice made Tsubakino flinch slightly, almost like they knew who it was. When they turned around, Tsubakino immediately recognized you—you still took such good care of your appearance. Your makeup, your hair, even your outfit was so cute! Ah—They had almost forgotten you were in the middle of an argument with that boy.

Tsubakino quickly turned to Kotoha, putting on a focused expression while fixing their own hair and lightly tapping their cheeks to make sure they looked good. Once satisfied, Tsubakino hurried over to where the argument was happening, determined to step in and resolve it—obviously as a proud member of Furin!

"Well, i dont think its necessary to make such a trouble for everyone! could you please not cut in the line?" - Tsubakino ask to the guy with a gentle smile while their hand rested on their own hip. Tsubakino could feel your gaze studying them, like if you were trying to confirm who they actually were. It made Tsubakino's heart ache and hope they are impressing you by their new appeareance and how cool they are acting

The other guy turned slowly with a frown - "Ha? who the hell you think you are to..." - The guy stopped talking seeing the uniform of Furin and then recognizing Tsubakino, he gulped and nodded just going away with his head low

Tsubakino turned to you with a gentle smile, walking closer and giggling at how your eyes seemed to light up the moment you finally recognized them.- "Tsubakino!?" you exclaimed, your smile widening as they nodded.

You couldn’t help but gasp, tilting your head as you spoke, your hands flying in the air to emphasize your excitement. "I— you look so good!! I love the color of your dyed hair! How do you manage to take such good care of it? It almost looks natural!"

The two of you immediately launched into a flurry of compliments, excitedly gushing over each other’s looks and how they reflected the styles you both used to dream about. Kotoha, watching from the sidelines, couldnt help but feel a little amused by the situation. She sighed softly and decided to let you two talk.

After a moment of sharing compliments, Tsubakino smiles sweetly at you starting to look for something on their purse, you couldnt see what Tsubakino hidded in his palm until he grabbed your hand and landed you the lipstick you gived them a couple of years ago. - "I think its time to give you back this, isnt it? Such a pretty color you lend me...i used it but still kept the container as a lucky charm!" - You couldnt help the small blush forming on your cheeks, such a silly thing and yet Tsubakino decided to follow your words? Thats so cute...

Tsubakino noticed your nervousness and gived you a knowing smile, in the end he called Kotoha so you three made the line for the product. The rest of the day you spended it shopping with those two while sometimes Tsubakino took advantage of the fact the mall was crowded so they could grab your hand and squeeze it just so you dont get lost of course!

With that said, when Kotoha leaved, Tsubakino walked you home and gived you a little lipstick charm as a gift for coming back as you said on your promise with them. With a smile Tsubakino hugged you slowly, knowing you could feel their perfume. Such a lucky guess they used the expensive one today! - "Hope we can do more and more shoppings together..." - You smiled warmly at Tsubakino's words and said back - "Sure, and you will let me do your makeup to test it, right?"

[frenchkanna1808]

Why chapter 3 was a enormous let down and the possible negative impact it might have on the rest of the game

I remember after finishing chapter three one how exicted I was, how deeply impressed I was with the banquet and the qtaro development. And I mean I wasn't the only one, again and again I had seen so much praise about chapter three and how awesome it was. How great midori was as a villain (my like idk how many words analysis about him is very much explicit of that), How amazing qtaro development was, and mainly how great the banquet was, and I had seen the claim around that 3-1 was as great or even better than 2-2. And so I had decided after the hype fell down a little to play yttd again with friends, and that when I realized, god , wait, chapter three is like, extremely mid. I played the entire chapter 1a and it only got to the heights of 1b. I at first couldn’t tell what was wrong with the game, why did it feel so disappointing? And after a while I have finally looked back at the chapter, and yes this chapter is not only extremely lackluster but also a very bad prediction for the future of yttd if 3-2 is written the same. So here in this long french analysis I will discuss the main problem of chapter three the absolute shit characterization of almost all the characters. But also the destruction of emotion route and the crazy pacing

Hi like always, I’m frenchgremlim, I’m the french kanna fan I write stupid essays on yttd from time to time, this one will be compared to some of my others quite negative. But I will try as hard as possible to be an objective critic. This isnt meant to attack any fan of any character no any fan of yttd 3-2, I just want to discuss a possible problem in yttd writing that personally scares me for the future, this topic was one I brought up a lot in many post, if you have seen any of them then well you will already know some of my grievances with chapter 3. So with all my love thank you for reading this, lets start!

THE GOOD STUFF

Chapter Three 1 definitely has many great points. First off, the plot progression is pretty great, we get ton of infos on asunaro, on ways to escape and clues about the hades incident. Midori was a blast and bullying him became my favorite pastime. The dummies were an amazing concept (remember the word concept it will be important for the rest). Despite me disliking ranmaru deepy his development was interresting. THE QTARO DEVELOPMENT WAS CRAZY GOOD, for the first time I got to be justified for being a qtaro fan since chapter 2. Keiji had ton of development in this chapter??? that is very rare considering how much of a stable character he is troughout the game, his relationship with sara is really highlighted and I think thats great. Gin stays the most consistent character in yttd and despite normally being something I dislike in a game I think it makes sense considering gin is pretty much sara anchor in reality in both routes. The obstructors were an amazing idea and I think, adding new mechanics like that truly freshen up the game. Also shin ai is litteraly one of the best idea ever and maple too. And of course the banquet was a thrilling nerve wrecking experience with so many twist and turns that truly got your blood pumping……. Thats my praise for chapter three, the thing that doesn’t make it outright bad but correct. See how I mentioned a few characters by name, but not all, you can pretty much count any of the other either barely present or useless to the narrative. Which will lead me to my first point, the absolute character waste that genuinely every single yttd character going from the least worst to the worst (if you know me you know who will be last).

AN ENSEMBLE CAST IS AN ENSEMBLE NOT SARA AND HER MINIONS NANKIDAI

MAI AND KURUMADA

okay so I will start with them because funny enough new characters have better characterization, than actual character we knew since chapter 1. If I had a word to describe both ami and kurumada it would be good but lacking. Let’s start with mai, I think mai concept of her starting has a sort of traitor and then becoming a true ally is very good, same for kurumada startinga s a heartless asshole only caring about himself to him literally on the ground crying that keiji doesn’t cause the doom of the other dummies. Overall Mai and Kurumada have the strongest character out of all the dumies and are truly multi layered characters. Mai is depicted as a fake idol like girl who hides herself behing the pop like smilling persona (inverse of shin) to hide the fact that she is terrified but can also be a cunning manipulative person too. She truly wants the best for others but is terrified that she might die and would do anything to survive. Kurumada is a brute, he acts like a bully toward the others, act heartless and values himself over others, he has a sort of superiority complex and rejects affection. But trough the power of the bucket, kurumada starts to warm up, and he starts truly caring about the others. He starts devaluing his life after getting destroyed by maple. But in the end he was the only one of the surviving dummies wishing not to be brought back but avenged. Both have interesting dynamic with their pairs and overall importance on the narrative, something that can’t be said about all dummies. Why lacking then. I think kurumada and mai still suffer from what I will call the dummies problem, they feel like there is so much like missed potential its crazy. Seriously we had like one scene where kurumada learns to warm up to kanna, thats it, it feels like we had the basics but it was very rushed. Which is a shame considering THIS IS THE THING THAT MAKES KURUMADA CHANGE AS A PERSON. Mai has less of this problem I think, but still she has no relationship with like anyone in the group except qtaro ( I still think in logic route we should have had the obvious parralele between her actions and like keiji/shin actions it feels like wasted potential) But again this is a flaw that is ommitable since reminder the characters are well written despite being rushed. What isnt forgivable is that kurumada has no relationship at all with shin in logic route, its clear that nankidai envisioned emotion route kurumada before logic route kurumada. Overall I think the pairing system was terribly done for some characters, which is apart of the overrall dummies syndrome.

But lets take a look at the other dummies where my praise will quickly end.

ANZU AND HAYASAKA:

I am deeply sorry for anyone who is a fan of those characters, but I need to be objective, anzu and hayasaka are the most nonexistent characters in yttd. I complain about the lack of kanna content, but the absolute uselessness of those two is crazy disappointing. Remember how I described mai and kurumada, full rich descriptions, what is anzu character. She is a dumb clown girl, thats it there is nothing more. And the problem isnt that she is a simple character on paper, because for example mishima is quite a simple character, its how nankidai decided to utilize them. Lets start with anzu because I think she shows off well the problem, what does anzu do during the narrative, when is she useful, not even like talking about like puzzles or stuff like that kanna also doesn’t help that much, I mean overrall, what is the goal of this character. A character can be a bit flater personaility wise but he has to HAVE A REASON TO EXIST EXCEPT FILLING IN THE BLANKS.

Why was she paired with the yabusames, because reminder all the dummies were paired with a human for a reason, sara with ranmaru because of joe, keiji and hinako because they are edgy emo dyed hair dodgy person, kurumada with greenbling because he has one of the highest percentages while they have some of the lowest, hayasaka because he is similar to mishima with gin. Anzu was paired up with the yabusame, because she had to be paired up with someone, she has NO relationship with them, isnt a contrast isnt anything. My problem with anzu is that she is a a boring character because they did NOTHING WITH HER, she feels like an C rated anime girl in the fucking cast of death note. And no I’m not saying a nice person is boring not at all kanna is my favourite character of fiction, what I’m saying Is that creating just a nice girl is a problem. If we go to hayasaka its the same, which is even worse because hayasaka IS TIED TO THE NARRATIVE. I would say haysaka is more plot interresting but his personality is so boring that it doesn’t help at all. He is just clone non chad mishima. They can die and it will genuinely almost affect nothing at all(which is also a problem the death problem). You get surprised when they actually talk because you had forgotten they existed. Thats how I will define the dummies problem, it feels like the characters were added but had very limited impact in the end, because while it makes sense for asunaro it doesn’t make sense for the cast, why add characters if they have no meaning, thats just bad writing.And why does that piss me off, because you could have done so much more. Remember the mishima comparaison? Mishima is the most good guy ever made but how does he shine, by his interractions, he is a light of joy and good and shines from how kind he is towards others. He’s a bit silly but his unwaring kindness and undertsanding is what makes him a compelling character. Especially I contrast with brooding characters in the cast. ANZU COULD HAVE BEEN THAT. I think especially in logic route, anzu isnt the brightest light bulb, but she can shine in her unwaring compassion, her passion is making others laugh as a clown. While she isnt the best and can sound awkard she tries her best for others, because thats whats right to do, despite how much she is scared. After keiji gets coffined, anzu goes to see keiji in the coffin and tries to cheer him up with the worst joke ever and it makes him truly laughs from how bad it is. Reko see nao painting and gets depressed about it,feeling like she was able to save nobody whether her brother or lover, anzu decides to show her some epic clown skills and absolutely fails, reko laughs finding the kiddo endearing. After alice discovers that midori had hanged out with reko, he wants to destroy him and get filled with rage but anzu tells him to do the breathing exercises she used to do before any performance. Anzu could be used as this idea of childlike kindness a little light in the dark of the group especially in logic route. She can still be a fail girl clown make her bicker with kurumada more, make her be so impressed by how calm mai is, make her despize ranmaru in logic route, make her a dumb kid with tehir cool aunt/uncle with the yabusames. MAKE HER EXIST. SAME FOR HAYASAKA, hayasaka is supposed to be a straight man type character make him even more of a loser, make him silently judge the crazy ass people he is with, do his development litteraly not Five minutes before his death. A character being simple isnt a problem, what is a problem is not using them to their fullest, and for me in the state that they are in currently anzu and hayasaka are bad characters in term of the narrative.

SHIN

Okay so shin isnt a character in chapter three, he’s just there, I’m putting that low because he is a main character. The problem with shin being a bot, is that we just left one of the craziest chapters for him to do nothing, I understand him being stunned by midori and stuff. But I still think this is quite a letdown, especially for the obvious parralels between him and maple almost never being utilized. You can tell nankidai didn’t have the time or want to do much with the guy, which is bonkers considering THIS IS THE CHAPTER WE MEET HIS ABUSER. Then why isnt shin lower? Because shin is the type of character to have development throughout the story, who has a continuous storyline etc, which means that even though he didn’t get anything special this chapter next chapter he will get it. Its not a case of actual waste of character ,its more so, putting the character in the drawer for now. I am not scared for shin writing because he will always get something and always had something. Which makes is non importance in chapter 3-1 not that bad

KANNA

OKAY SO I WILL TRY TO NOT BE BIASED. Kanna characterization disappointing me In 3-1. As the biggest kanna fan, I think nankidai doesn’t care that much about her character as an actual protagonist. This one will be a bit longer but to explain why it was bad I need to do some sidenotes.

Sara is the protagonist of yttd, and keiji and gin are deutarogonist (idk how its written forgive me I’m french, please tell me if its badly written). Sara throughout the story goes trough many changes and developments, while characters like gin and keiji stay pretty much the same the whole story before 3-1. Sara main development is her living with the grief of losing joe and her importance in the group. While keiji is this morally grey, in the end bad person because of his actions guy, that still deeply cares and wants the best for sara, but what he does for her like putting so much responsibility isnt good for her in the end, it creates this codependent dynamic where keiji wishes to protect sara but in the teaches her how to be like him despite him wishing the inverse. Is keiji a good influence? A bad one ? I would say a bad one, but does he care for her? He sures do, and would do anything to protect her. Why am I going a tangent you might say, because shin and kanna are the mirror to keiji and sara. They are in the end the same. Kanna is a direct parralel to sara story wise, which is why I think if the story was twisted the point of view would be either shin or kanna. Kanna is the emotional core of the game, the soul I would say even, her development has a character is the deepest and most complex. Going trough hell, wishing to die to then deciding to live not herself yet but for the people that loved her, Kanna went trough some of the worst events out of the cast, litteraly everyone she even remotely liked or was friends with dies. And yet she decided to stand, for them, for their wishes, that makes kanna the most emotionally strong character in all of yttd. Because compared to sara she had almost no help and was left to her suicidal tendencies. Kanna represents hope and bravery in its purest sense. Thats why kanna is the soul of yttd, she litteraly made shin realised that he could care about others again. But despite all of that kanna was always in the shadow of someone, lacking self worth and self confidence feeling the need to be protected by others, hiding behind shin schemes despite how dodgy they were. Shin was her shield, and now he is gone, and kanna has never been more alone than now. Two people died for her, she hates herself and wishes to go seem them deeply, but she has to stand up for them. And what do we get for chapter three!!!! One scene. Thats fucking it. Okay maybe a little bit more but like god its bad. Kanna is implied in one scene that she doesn’t understand why shin would sacrifice himself for her, which implies that she doesn’t understand that people could love her, which could imply that in general she doesn’t get why either kugie or shin did this for her. COOL ONE IMPLICATION. And like if you read the scene where she says that she will like be epic for them, its implied that kanna doesn’t feel better and is still very much suicidal she still hates herself, kanna doesn’t think she can live, but she has to survive for them. Kanna is implied to be in survival mode more than having hope to be outside. OKAY COOL.

Now I have a question, why does for kanna we have to acively search for her to have any actual development and like relevance, while for other character its more laid out. Why does sara get a scene where we see her change mentality after seeing the joe ai, while kanna GETS OFF SCREEN DEVELOPMENT. IF THERE IS ANYTHING I HATE ITS OFF SCREEN DEVELOPMENT. WE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO GUESS A REASON A CHARACTER CHANGED. Plus kanna is a victim of this almost all the time, which is why people call her flat or not as interesting as shin (I heavily disagree I could write so many pages about her). Kanna is a character which is made in subtlety, which isnt a problem, what is a problem is that she is perhaps the only one. Kanna like I said is a very important character for both routes and yet she is barely treaten has a main protagonist, she is a sidekick, and thats a problem. Because of that her individuality and complexities are not explored. For example I think kanna has many many actual flaws that are barely treated in the narrative, she is far from a perfect kind person, but never tackled on. Kanna is a character that not only never gets a W but also get no breathing room. THIS IS THE FIRST CHAPTER KANNA IS MORE PROACTIVE AND YET WE DONT SEE HOW HER. Yes there is some things that show that, but again its not protagonist level of development, it feels like non important side character development for a character that shouldn’t be that. Kanna SHOULD be a protagonist of yttd, and should get finally her chance to shine instead of always being in someone shadow. I not making pessimistic claims right now since the last chapter isnt out, but I’m very much not hopeful about how nankidai will handle her #challengewriteafemalecharacterwiththesamerespecthasamaleone.

ALICE AND REKO

I Have already written many post about this, but post chapter 2-1, Nankidai had no idea what to do with yabusames, they havent had any actual interresting impact except from lore in any chapter. They become background character especially after nao death. Despite being actual game changing choice, alice and reko are useless to the narrative. WHY? Because nankidai had decided to get them killed by sheep boy, and since nankidai clearly wrote emotion route before logic route, in emotion route he had no idea what to do with them so the became npc’s. Alice relaionship with cast has not evolved from chapter 1, and reko became just one of sara goons. I think this ties into another problem, the emotion route problem, what should make emotion route compelling the character which is supposed to represent it, kanna and the emotion route based choices, but since kanna and the other yabusame gets zero content, emotion route seems like the least interesting route. Because nankidai was more lazy doing it which is a clear problem. That affects the yabusame heavily, sicne he had no plans with them past death. Thats why they are static. Its also linked to another problem which I will mention later. But yes nankidai simply doesn’t know what to do with them, which is especially worst for alice a character that is LINKED TO THE ENTIRE CHAPTER. I think its not only a waste of alice and reko, but also a sign of favoritism. I think nankidai simply cares less about complex ideas for emotion route, I will perhaps write in another post all he could have written interesting for emotion route. Now lets get into THE REAL STINKER OF THE CHAPTER.

NAO EGOKORO: HOW TO MESS UP THE MESSAGE OF CHARACTER

What. The. Actual.shit. I have no words except from that. This out of every charcater bothers me probably the most and actively pisses me off. Imagine writing a character, a female character who was shown as capable and strong despite being an emotional person, imagine creating a character which showed the defiance of asunaro, the fact that yes despite their overwhelming sense of control and power, that there was in fact a way to beat them at their games, imagine writing a character that fought against adversity and had the only canonical route where despite all their wishes that character won, imagine creating a character with a doomed fate which is in direct parallel to another character and shows why he somewhat has the right to be scarred, imagine writing a tragic story about a girl who was only brought here to suffer and be a tool for the progression of A MAN in the canonical narrative, imagine writing a character who entire existence was a tool for asunaro and died because of them, imagine writing that the floormasters consider her useless and non important because she isnt some holy participants, imagine writing that. Okay so imagine that after this poignant ending you decide to do another chapter where you mention her 1 time in a non essential dialogue. THIS IS INSULTING. Because what this honestly says is that, yes nao life truly was unimportant, we get references to greenbling death in the chapter, NAO DIED LIKE THREE HOURS AGO. THIS MESSES UP THE ENTIRE MESSAGE.

This feels like nao was some kind of rug, that when not needed could be trhown out, was her death just shock value, was that the goal of her character. I wanna remind that yes nao was only brought to boost mishima percentages, which mean she was only a tool for another man progression. THERE IS SO MUCH META POSSIBLE COMMENTARY ON THIS. Asunaro who uses children and women as toys for their own goals, that they will throw out when not needed. But instead the fact that nao was completely forgotten just deepens this idea that yes in fact they were right, she was unimportant, and thst deeply isulting I think. Why does every chapter mishima comes back while we get no mention of nao. Why is there a clear focus in this game about more stereo typically strong stoic figures, isn't this entire game about the conflict between emotion and logic. Why does characters like kanna and nao representations of the conflict get zero content. Characters like kanna and nao MATTER, they are perhaps some of the only representation of empowerment that people like me can relate. Because I will be truthful, logic route is in fact not the good choice, not in narrative standpoint (logic route is awesome for the narrative for sure), in a moral standpoint, its an extremely good idea of course. But the message of the game is that in the end its wrong, it’s a wrong choice to act or pretend to be an emotionless logic based robot, keiji is in the wrong, shin is in the wrong, midori is in the wrong. Whats the point of a moral dilemma if you don’t talk about it from one side. THEN WHY DOES THE CHARACTERS THAT REPRESENT THE INVERSE GET ZERO CONTENT. I think nao disappearance is not only one of the most disappointing things in all of yttd but genuinely gets me scared for the future of yttd themes.

Now that we finished every character, you may wonder, why, why is this chapter characterization so bad? What even happened? Ill tell you what happened, there is two reason everything went to shit and let me list it here:

THE SARA PROBLEM OR WHY THIS CHAPTER PLOT FOCUS IS ASS .

YTTD chapter three was way more plot focused than any of the chapters I would say, and honestly thats great for the narrative, if only it was done well. Remember my speeches about the characters about how like 60% of the cast is useless to the narrative, characters we know since a while, why do characters have no development, why does the dummies gets jack shit to do etc. Thats because of one thing, this chapter prioritized PLOT over CHARACTERS. And how can I claim this, because most scenes are sara and her doing everything. This chapter wasn't really about her, at all even, yet we have focused more on her reactions to the events that literally any characters. Chapter three at least half of it shouldn't have been sara focused. You might say what are you on about french? I’m gonna explain. I wanna state some example to show my point clearer, the reveal of why non candidates were brought here, why, in the flipping heck is sara the charcter in particular they choose to only know that, to have the big emotional scene, why especially in logic route, why?????? Yes she knew nao, sure thing, yeah she knew kai, but she wasn't the only person that knew them, sara didn’t even like mention nao almost the whole chapter, you want me to buy some emotional ass scene, for a charcter you barely even cared about showing in the narrative. I could think of a million characters who knwing this would flip out and have ACTUAL CHARACTER MOMENTS (kanna, reko, shin when he would learn that they brought kugie only to die which in the end CAUSED KANNA TO BECOME SUICIDAL AND DECIDE TO KILL HERSELF, GIN).

Another example the final scene where sara presses the button to get rid of midori that scene feels so empty, it doesn’t feel like a revenge or anything, midori has no emotional connection or link to sara, it doesn’t feel deserved, why out of everyone of the cast, why is midori getting killed by the person who he hurted the least. It feels like yeah sara the protag so she has to do it, it doesn’t feel cathartic because the characters that deserved the most to get this final bow didn’t get to get it. IM PRETTY SURE ANYONE IN THE ROOM COULD HAVE PRESSED THE BUTTON AND IT WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE EMOTIONALLY DRIVEN. I wanna discuss emotion route sara in particular, sara isnt as interresting as before in emotion route, since now she is healing and is closing her arc, which means that compared to logic route you don’t really have this want to see her arc which make scenes that should have been about other characters feel even more flat. I am not saying we should stop having sara as a protag no no of course, my problem is that we have seen that sara can work as the protag while focusing on other characters drama.

Example chapter 2-1, in 2-1 the focus is on reko and alice, and yet sara still has conflicts for herself, but they don’t seem to overpower the narrative. This intense sara focus destroyed the other characters screen time, and caused a lot of scenes that should hav been more impact to be less impact. Sara story in emotion route should have been the keiji stuff an ranmaru stuff mainly(and the whole logic route sara becoming crazy stuff too), the whole conflict with midori just felt like it was created only for the narrative. NOW I CAN FINNALY COME TO MY POINT. The sara focus was because yttd decided to focus more on the plot progression that character driven story, thats why sara does everything, thats why the characters have overall less to do. And imma be honest I did not come for yttd for the plot, people love yttd because of THE CHARACTERS, why do people play logic route, because they want to see shin evolve and sara too, why do people save kanna to fullfill shin wishes and save a kid they care for, what most people play yttd for is not the plot. YTTD IS A CHARACTERS DRIVEN STORY, characters not character. I genuinely don’t give a flying fuck about the plot if the characters are non existant, a bad plot can be carried by good characters, but a good plot will never carry bad characters. I know we are getting closer to the end, but yttd always had that balance between action and character moments. But I don’t think its only the direction of the story that is faulty. ITS the:

PACING

YTTD CHAPTER THREE PACING, wow we met this new guy midori, WTF REKO DEAD, anyway who cares lets move on. Thats it thats the pacing. THE CHAPTER IS WA TOO FAST. We go trough plot points so quiclky, we randmoly see reko/alice die then nothing, they don’t exist anymore, characters the cast know since the beginning, again for the dummies its logical, in a way, they don’t really know them, plus they are robots. RANDOM AHH REVEAL KANNA AND SHIN ARE ACTUAL SIBLINGS THEN NOTHING, NO MENTION, NO ACTUAL IMPORTANCE TO THE ROUTE, this only felt like this was added in for plot for logic route so that we know in advance that shin and kanna are siblings. The dummies just die at the end of the chapter in five minutes, qtaro dies in five minutes then the chapter ends. How do you want us to feel emotional weight for a character dying if you give us no time, joe death is one of the most viceral death because its slow and painful to watch, while if he died in chpater three he would have just exploed for shock value. Shock value thats how reko and alice death felt like, just that. Sara figuring out the whole participant thing, shock value thats it. The pacing is just horrible in this chapter so much so that I had actually forgotten kanna and shin were revealed to be siblings at the end of my first playtrough

CONCLUSION

I don’t think chapter three was bad per say, half of it was amazing truly, but the other half was incredibly disappointing, the whack characterization, the horrible plot focus and the pacing are terrible. Emotion route suffered the most because of this and I think on an objective standpoint is the worst written route (i’m the biggest emotion route glazer but like I can’t lie on how bad nankidai fumbled). I still love yttd and am full of hope that chapter three two will be the most amazing thing ever made, but I am scared of dissapointement now, I hope nankidai comes back to his roots wirting like chapter 2. If you like loved chapter 3-1 then honestly I wish I was you, I don’t like being dissapointed, I don’t like being let down, I am not critiquing from a place of hatred but from a very passionate fan, I know my opinion is pehaps not one of the most shared but as a fan of yttd for so many years I think we need to open our eyes to flaws. Perhap chapter 3-2 will fix everything I say and I hope so, I hope this post becomes outdated, but if it doesn’t then it would in my eyes truly ruin yttd. It won’t change chapter 2-2 changed my life and that kanna kizuchi saved me from a lot of dark times.I love yttd and i belive in nankidai and that why as a fan we shoudl critic his work

[soularsss]

ahhh AHHHHH OH MY GODDDD OH MY SKELE CREW SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT AAAAAAHHHHGGH

Okay I know alot of people have been rooting for him to turn around this episode and save the kids but kind of am really enjoying the very real real Pirate vibes that Jod is giving us?? Like im kinda mad that he BEHEADED SM33 but thats mainly because I loved that character, not because I wanted Jod not to hurt anyone. Im interested to see what happens in the finale because Jude did say we will learn about his backstory, but I actually enjoyed the rather straight-forward and downright dirty decisions Jod made in the episode?

I cant lie to you guys I was rooting for my evil pirate husband to well.. do some less than good things.. you guys know one of my all time favorite characters is Maul right... i think its always really fun to have some sort of tragic villain/antagonist story and I am hoping with his backstory reveals we get to see him lean more into that :0

Obviously, with the writers talks about possible season 2 happenings, i would love it if Jod could turn himself around *enough* not not get killed and then be in season 2 if that gets greenlit!!!

Guys.. guys.. I just really love my piratefailure evilguy.. hes an evil bastard and i just kind of fuck with him okay HES COOOL UGH IM SO HAPPY HE LIT THE LIGHTSABER THIS EPISODEEEEEEEEE (i am sad about who he used it on..) but i am so happy we got to see it, and I think its interesting seeing how he holds himself with it, i think he holds the blade relatively far from himself and i dont know- to me it seems like the sort of stance a guy would use if he didnt have any proper training? obviously he is force sensitive so I reckon that lends itself to not chopping off your own fingers but not much more lol.. im yapping.. im yapping...

i really did enjoy some bad bad pirate action oh i love some skulduggery and dubious behaviour. what a grimey little rat HEHEHEHE

I think Jude had some awesome line delivery again in this episode and I loved the little comedic moments among his evilness.

I also wanted to point out the gentle hurrying of snowball, the sort of fond look on his face when he realized the kids were coming in, and to me there was definitely somethinggg hesitant.. each time he saw them and their parents.. guys.. i dont think hes alllllllllll bad... maybe a little bit of good is buried somewhere deep

i wouldnt be opposed to a redemption arc where they try and dredge that little bit of good up :,)

also ALSO ALSO!!!!!!!!! THE KIDS performances were amazing this episode!!! Fern really stood out to me, you can tell she wants to stand up to him but he was just so clearly in complete control and it was crushing her!!!!! Seeing Wim lose his whimsy made me really bummed :(( and omg omg.. The little interaction between KB and Jod when she says the signal is jammed.. he has a soft spot i am telling youuuuuu